Your calendar is marked for June 21 – 26, 2012. You’re going to ALA Annual in Anaheim!… Now what?

Just because you’re trying to save money doesn’t mean you can’t have fun! There are plenty of fun things to do near Anaheim without having to break out the big bucks (sorry Disneyland!). Check out some of the free (or almost free) things to do in Orange County:

Orange County Great Park Located south of Anaheim in the city of Irvine, this park- formerly a Marine base built as a wartime air station in 1942- offers free carousel rides and hot-air balloon rides, as well as an art gallery and children’s playground.

Great Park Balloon Rides One of the largest tethered helium balloons in the U.S., this ride soars 400 feet in the air, is safe, and free!

Ride the Balboa Island Ferry Experience historic charm while enjoying the scenic crossing between Balboa Island and Balboa Peninsula. You can ride the ferry on foot, bicycle, or in your vehicle. Prices range from free-$2.

Downtown Disney Enjoy a mini-Disney experience without having to pay the admission (or parking) fee. The Downtown Disney District features unique sights and shops.

Fullerton Arboretum A beautiful place to walk on the campus of Cal State Fullerton. Please remember your sunscreen, water and hat! Check their website for hours before you go. (more…)

I was first introduced to listservs as a circ associate back in 2007. I have since spent at least 2 hours a week posting, responding, and reading posts. I value them so much that registering for Listservs is always my first piece of advice to new librarians. I would like to share with you some discussions I have followed on my various listservs, in hops that you might join the ranks of young adult librarians who can’t seem to stop talking about their job.

1. Hunger Games. Twilight. Are you hosting a party? Need trivia questions or read-alikes? Look no further than a quick search of the YALSA Book Discussions listserv. Browse through the archives or do a quick search and viola! Instant party ideas. I have hosted at least 6 HG, HP and Twilight parties over the past few years, and each time I use this listserv for ideas. (more…)

Earlier this month, Wired magazine ran an article by Clive Thompson that discusses how students today lack reliable Internet search skills despite being digital natives. He points to a study conducted by the College of Charleston where a group of students were asked to look up the answers to several questions. Most of the students used Google and selected the web pages at the top of the list, not knowing that the order had been changed to include less reliable sources as a part of the experiment. The study concluded that the students placed too much faith in the search engine-generated results than in their own abilities to assess information.

Why are students who are so adept at navigating the digital world so unskilled when it comes to selecting what’s reliable and accurate? (more…)

I’m going to have to keep this brief today, which is fitting because today is all about time. When did you last say that you had too much time on your hands? If you’re like a lot of us, you don’t remember the last time you could just sit back and relax. There’s always something else that has to be done – another program to plan, more weeding to be done, desk hours, etc. You keep putting things aside to do later, but later never comes. If you already have a fail-proof method that keeps you scheduled and on task, I’m super jealous, and please share in the comments!

I, on the other hand, tend to be really disorganized, so at the beginning of this month when I started NaNoWriMo, I had no idea how I was going to manage that on top of everything else. I had to come up with something to do differently, or else I was never going to make it. So, here are a few tips for keeping your head above water: (more…)

Here’s another thing to get you geared up for ALA’s Annual Conference in Anaheim this June. The Library Research Round Table is looking for presentation proposals related to three areas of library research. Abstracts must be submitted by December 20, 2011, and notification of acceptance will be sent in late February, 2012. Accepted proposals will be presented at the ALA Annual from June 21-26. If you have recent or in-progress research relating to users, problem solving, or innovation, consider submitting.

LRRT defines their three categories as this: (more…)

A weekly short list of tweets that librarians and the teens that they serve may find interesting.

Do you have a favorite Tweet from the past week? If so add it in the comments for this post. Or, if you read a Twitter post between November 25 – December 1 that you think is a must for the next Tweets of the week send a direct or @ message to lbraun2000 on Twitter.
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Title: Taptu -  DJ Your News

Platform: Nook Color, Nook Tablet, Android, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad (Requires iOS 4.0 or later)

Cost: Free

How many newspapers, blogs, websites, and social networking sites did you scan today before visiting the YALSA Blog? Whether it is for reference questions, professional development, or leisure purposes, the amount of information librarians consume on a daily basis can be somewhat overwhelming.  This week’s app, Taptu – DJ Your News, helps combat information-overload by “mashing, mixing, and merging” all your social networking content, favorite websites, and news sources into a visual stream that can be browsed with the sweep of a finger.

Adding your favorite news feeds and websites is a simple task. Taptu’s “StreamStore” features popular streams sorted visually and by topic (see the image at right). In addition to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, Taptu has hundreds of curated topics like “2012 Elections,” “Twilight Breaking Dawn,” (more…)

For this episode we sit down with Megan Honig, editor-in-chief for YALS, YALSA’s own quarterly journal. Megan tells us about some of the highlights of the November, 2011 issue as well as the brand new online component that will enhance the content of the print version of YALS.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If  you prefer, you may go to the YALSA Podcast Site, download the Mp3 file and listen to it on the Mp3 player of your choice. To avoid missing future episodes, add the feed to Itunes or any other rss feed tracker.

Do you have someone on your holiday gift list that loves YA books? Do you know someone that is a Michael L. Printz Award aficionado? If so, then the 2012 YALSA Michael L. Printz Award calendar is the perfect item to put on your holiday gift giving list. The calendar, available for $15 in the ALA Online Store, is filled with information about Printz authors and other YALSA award winners. Each month sports a high quality image of the cover of a Printz winning title.

All proceeds from calendar sales goes to the Friends of YALSA (FOY), whose mission is to ensure excellence in the Association’s traditional programs and services to library workers serving teens and to support growth in new 21st century directions. Over the past few years FOY has used funds to support Emerging Leaders and Spectrum Scholars as well as a number of projects that give YALSA members the opportunity to excel in service to teens. When you buy a calendar you will become a member of FOY and gain benefits of membership including a subscription to the FOY enews.

There are other ways you might want to give to YALSA during this holiday season. You can make a donation to FOY directly by going to the Become a Friend of YALSA page on the association website. Or, why not give a gift of YALSA membership to a colleague or library school student? You can learn more on the YALSA website membership information page.

Wishing you happy holidays.

A couple of weeks ago YALSABlog readers may have noticed that the weekly Tweets of the Week had a new format. A few days after that revision there was a Blog post that used Storify (The tool also used for the Tweets of the Week) to highlight findings in a new Pew Internet and American Life report on teens and social networking. Some may wonder, “what’s going on here?” Well, what’s going on is that curation has come to the YALSABlog and curation is probably something that you are or will be thinking about for the work you do with teens.

There has been a lot of buzz about curation over the past several months. What people are talking about when they buzz about content curation is the organization of information, usually using web-based tools, on a particular topic. For example, Storify enables users to search a variety of sources, including Twitter, YouTube, Google, and Facebook, to uncover and organize topic content. With Storify it’s possible to integrate text in-between curated resources to provide context and flow to the curated content. For example, the Storify below is all about the Austin Teen Book Festival.
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